Device for production of control patterns for looms



July 29, 1958 P. PASQUET 2,345,996

DEVICE FOR PRODUCTION OF CONTROL PATTERNS FOR LOOMS Filed Dec. 3, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 29, 1958 p. PASQUET 2,845,096

DEVICE FOR PRODUCTION OF CONTROL PATTERNS FOR LOOMS' Filed Dec. 3, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 r rr / em a a 1" 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I 0 0 I a v 0 0 a 0 0 a o a a 0 a fiwmwr July 29, 1958 PASQUET 2,845,096

DEVICE FOR PRODUCTION OF CONTROL PATTERNS FOR LOOMS Filed Dec. 3. 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 LM/dllflll United rates Patent i i It DEVICE FOR PRODUCTION OF CONTROL PATTERNS FOR LOOMS Philippe Pasquet, Lyon, France Application December 3, 1952, Serial No. 323,799

Claims priority, application France December 13, 1951 3 Claims. (Cl. 139-319) The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the production of control transparencies suitable for use in weaving patterned fabrics. A control transparency obtained in accordance with the present invention may be used, alternatively, either for the perforation of the usual control card for use in a loom of the Jacquard type or may be used directly to control the figuring hooks of an appropriately controllable multicolor loom.

A principal object of my invention consists in providing a control film recording of a particular monochromatic color pattern which is correlated to the weave intersections of warp and woof threads, these thread intersections bening disposed at predetermined locations in accordance with the type of fabric being woven, such as tafieta, serge, satin or other conventional fabric. As a result, the control film produced in accordance with the present invention is appropriately coordinated both to the particular weave of the fabric and the particular design, said film recording answering the following dual purpose: allowing the easy and speedy production of even the most complicated weaves; increasing the efiiciency of the actual reading in, recording of the pattern and mechanical control stages at the optimum repetition rate or rhythm, each of these operations being considered separately in accordance with the principle of maximum efiiciency of the division of labor.

When completed, the control film pattern will be arranged on the basis of specific thread crossings for a particular color, the number of thread crossings being equal to the product of the number of cards by the number of perforations in each card, for a Jacquard loom, for example.

Thus for instance, in the case of a card provided for 1200 figuring hooks, five hundred cards correspond to 600,000 thread crossings and many fabrics require, in fact, a higher number of crossings to be shown. For such a large number of crossings, the conventional devices including mechanical or electrical relay lines or electronic tubes accumulating information for subsequent utilization cannot be used in the actual state of technique. As concerns strips of perforated paper or cards, they cannot be efficiently utilized by reason of their slow operation, high cost and large bulk.

Two means may, in contradistinction, be used for recording or storing compactly such a large number of items of thread crossing color control information, to wit magnetic recording and photographic recording.

According to my invention, I advantageously utilize to wit photographic recording, by reason of the facility obtainable in the defining of the geometric pattern of the weave, of the possibility of readily checking the results during operation of the loom, of the large storage capacity of the film and of its convenience in storage for future use.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein "ice Figure 1 shows the weave pattern recording applied to a standard mm. motion picture film;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic illustration showing photoelectric means for producing the photographic recording shown on the film of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 shows a superposition of separate films for use in obtaining the final control film;

Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of photographic apparatus for producing the desired control film for a particular color of the weave pattern;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic illustration showing utilization apparatus with which the final film may be used.

Turning to Fig. 1, it is apparent that the useful breadth (24 mm.) of a standard 35 mm. film is subdivided into 72 columns designated as a a a n corresponding to 72 design rows or to 72 cards, the length of one column being sufiicient for the illustration of a complete card (9001200-l344, etc.) at the rate of 50 horizontal lines b b b I1 i. e. 50 figuring hooks for a standard picture the height of which is 19 mm.

In Fig. l, the standard picture area measuring 24 x 19 mm. is encompassed within the rectangle m, n, 0, p while r designates the usual perforations provided for the driving of the film.

Obviously, the number of separate films must be sufficient to carry all of the color information relating to all I of the thread crossings corresponding to all of the loom control cards.

In the execution of my invention, the first operation consists in the photographic transformation of the weave pattern and of the design into a chessboard formation.

The scale of correspondence will be one horizontal line per figuring hook and one column per design row.

The checkered impression of the film or of the plate is obtained through a recording by means of modulated light, while mechanical and optical means shift the film longitudinally and laterally with respect to the source of light.

In a preferred embodiment of my invention, as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 2, it is possible to execute said first stage in the transformation of the design into a chessboard or checkerboard arrangement.

In said Fig. 2:

B designates a photo-electric analyser selecting and responsive to a predetermined one of the colors;

C designates a multi-colored drawing of a design to be analysed and that is divided into horizontal strips each containing 72 locations, the drawing C being illuminated by the source of light L;

F designates the film which records the predetermined one of the colors from said design;

M and M are stationary mirrors while M is an oscillating scanning mirror providing for synchronism between the scanning of the cell c and of the design, said oscillating mirror carrying along with it a grid g provided with 72 parallel transverse slots;

M is a light modulator responsive to the color as read off from the design for recording the same on film F;

' s is an electronic amplifier controlling the operation of the light modulator M 0 is a cell responsive to light passing through the grid g, said cell being associated with an optical system including a source of light t, a light condenser u and an objective lens v.

As illustrated hereinabove, the design C and the film F (or a light-sensitive plate) progress downwardly simultaneously row by row in the direction of the corresponding arrows the downward movement following each 'horizontal scanning operation.

A predetermined color is selected from the design C by the monochromatic analyser B which includes one or more cells, colored filters or prisms for this purpose. For the selected color, a voltage impulse is sent out with a view to blocking the amplifier s and thereby releasing the means impressing the film F through the light modulator M each time a slot in the grid g illuminates the cell c. Thus, the chessboard on the film F is constituted uniformly with a correspondence between the white squares on film F and the one color selected on the design.

For'any other design, as many films are prepared in the above disclosed manner as there are colors in the design, each item of color information appearing on the corresponding'film in white on a black background or vice versa.

Before the color film F can be used to control the Weaving action of a loom, the color information must be coordinated with the weave pattern so that the color information is imparted to the loom separately with respect to each individual thread crossing of the woven fabric.

For this purpose, the final control film is produced by superposing the color film and a weave pattern film as shown in Fig. 3 to obtain a resultant control film. The following table illustrates this operation:

Color Weave Unexposed film (F film (F film (F W W=B W B :YV B W: W B B W In the above scheme, W means white and B-means black.

If the design is to be repeated, turned over, shifted, etc., in the final fabric, it is sufiicient to reposition the color films in a suitable manner in order to obtain the desired result. Each of the color films represents, by its black and white checkerboard pattern, the distribution of its associated color in the design, said films being obtained by the mechanism of Figure 2.

As to the weave films, they determine the locations of the crossings of the threads of the Warp and woof,

These weave films are standard and can be obtained by various methods, such as by reading a card representing the weave considered in using the mechanism of Figure 2, which provides the display on the weave film of a checkerboard pattern corresponding to that of the color films.

Fig. 3 of the drawings illustrates diagrammatically the above scheme. It shows in a highly diagrammatic manner the superposition of the three films or more exactly that of three categories of films serving as a basis for the production of the weave-controlling film as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4 and which forms also one of the objects of my invention, the machine of Fig. 4 producing directly the final film carrying design data for one of the colors modified by the data relating its use in the weave.

In said Fig. 3, Fe designates the film corresponding to one color of the design, Fa designates the weave grid film corresponding to said color and Fv the unimpressed film which is the same for all the colors of the weave and which is to serve for the perforation of the cards or for the direct control of the figuring hooks of the loom.

In Fig. 3, r, r and r" designate three different luminous rays of which the ray r meets black on the film Fe and is thus stopped without it being capable of impressing the unimpressed film Fv, while the ray r passes unimpeded through the films Fe and Pa on which it meets no black dot, so that it may impress the film Fv. As to the ray r", it meets no black on Fe and passes through it, but'it is arrested by a black point on the film Pa and cannot reach the film Fv.

Fig. 4 is a less diagrammatic illustration of the printing machine than Fig. 3. It shows again the three films Fc, Pa and Fv progressing over sprocket wheels designated respectively as Wc, Wa, Wv, that are driven each by means of a bevel gear controlled by the same driving shaft x.

The films are thus driven in a continuous and synchronous manner.

y and y designate objective lenses through which pass the light rays produced by a source of light constituted e. g. by a narrow slot intensely illuminated by the filament of an electric bulb 2.

According to a last object of my invention, said film is caused to pass for this last mentioned purpose in front of a photo-electric reader, its columns registering in succession with said reader.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of such a machine, given by way of a mere exemplificati-on. In Fig. 5, Fa designates the weave film which corresponds to the film Fv of Fig. 3.

D designates a rotary distributor that is a actuated for instance by a driving roller G in synchronism with the progression of the film Fa. L designates a source of light, C a photo-cell, A an amplifier and E E the electromagnets that serve for controlling the punches that are used for perforating the cards or for controlling the figured hooks, said electromagnets receiving an electric impulse under control of the film Fd from the photo-cell C after amplification by the amplifier A and distribution by the distributor D.

The reading off the film Fd is performed column by column and book by hook in each colmn, When a column has been completely read off, a quick return movement of the film and distributor takes place, accompanied by a transverse shifting of the film or of the photo-cell reader by a value equal to the breadth of a column, so as to allow reading off the adjacent column.

As apparent from the preceding disclosure, my invention is by no means limited to the sole embodiments described hereinabove in a diagrammatic manner; it covers, in contradistinction, all modifications thereof falling within the scope of the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for the production of a weave control transparency, said control transparency having opaque areas which define control information adapted for use by a loom, said control information being provided both with respect to a particular color of a design and with respect to a weave pattern of a fabric to be woven by said loom and in which the design is to be incorporated, said apparatus comprising a color information film which, when exposed and developed, will provide color information for said control transparency; a multi-colored drawing upon which said design appears; monochromatically responsive scanning means for scanning said drawing with respect to a particular color thereof; light modulation means for exposing said film, said light modulation means being connected for response to said scanning means; means interposed between said scanning means and said light modulation means for interrupting said response at predetermined intervals to produce a checkerboard pattcrn on said control film, said checkerboard pattern being modified in accordance with color information derived from said scanning means; a weave pattern film having opaque areas defining the locations of thread crossings in said fabric; a further film, and photographic exposure means for combining the information on said weave pattern film and on said color information film in superposed relationship on said further film, said further film when exposed and developed, constituting said control transparency.

- 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, comprising an oscillating mirror common to said scanning means and to said light modulation means, said means interposed between said scanning means and said light modulation means including a grid connected for movement along with said mirror and photoelectric means responsive to a beam of light which is periodically interrupted by movement of said grid.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said printing means comprises three sprocket wheels, said color information film, said weave pattern film, and said further film each passing over and being individually driven by one of said sprocket wheels; optical means for projecting said color information film and said weave pattern film simultaneously onto said further film; and means interconnecting all of said sprocket wheels for continuous and simultaneous movement in synchronism with each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain May 30, 1900 

